The NIT runs from March 13 until March 29. It’s not the NCAA tournament, but the NIT typically features a few good games every year.
NIT Tournament 2018: Bracket, schedule, and scores
Stay up to date on college basketball’s No. 2 tournament.
Amy Kontras-USA TODAY Sports
The format
The NIT is a single-elimination tournament, not unlike the Big Dance. The field has 32 teams, divided cleanly into four quadrants of eight teams apiece. The first three rounds of the tournament take place at campus sites, with games hosted by the higher-seeded team. (No. 1 vs. 8, No. 2 vs. 7, and on and on.) The games move to Madison Square Garden in New York for the tournament semifinals on March 27 and the championship game on March 29.
The stakes
The NIT gets made fun of, and that’s fine, but winning tournaments is good even if those tournaments aren’t the tournament. Playing well in the NIT can be a good way to start an offseason, and staying alive longer in the tournament means more opportunities for schools to make money. (NIT revenue is mostly pooled and then distributed to teams later.) The games aren’t a huge deal nationally, but they do count — including toward team records.
If you take a wider view, the NIT is one of the more prestigious postseason tournaments in college basketball. It’s a much bigger deal than the CBI and CIT. Anyway, it’s sports!
The bracket, scores, and schedule
All times here are Eastern. All games are on ESPN networks, which means you can stream them on WatchESPN, the network’s online platform.
Bracket: NCAA.com
The No. 1 seeds: Notre Dame, USC, Saint Mary’s, and Baylor. At least a couple of those teams had pretty good cases to make the NCAA tournament, but they’re here instead.
The basics to this schedule: The first round is March 13 and 14. The second round is March 16 and 19. The quarterfinals are March 20 and 21, and the tournament shifts to New York on March 27. All games are at night, and again, they’re all at campus sites until the semis.
Round 1: March 13
- No. 1 Notre Dame 84, No. 8 Hampton 63
- No. 3 Oregon 99, No. 6 Rider 86
- No. 1 Baylor 80, No. 8 Wagner 59
- No. 3 Middle Tennessee 91, No. 6 Vermont 64
- No. 2 Louisville 66, No. 7 Northern Kentucky 58
- No. 1 USC 103, No. 8 UNC Asheville 98 (2OT)
- No. 4 Western Kentucky 79, No. 5 Boston College 62
- No. 2 Oklahoma State 80, No. 7 Florida Gulf Coast 68
- No. 1 Saint Mary’s 89, No. 8 SE Louisiana 45
Round 1: March 14
- No. 2 Marquette 67, No. 7 Harvard 60
- No. 3 LSU 84, No. 6 Louisiana 76
- No. 4 Penn State 63, No. 5 Temple 57
- No. 4 Mississippi State 66, No. 5 Nebraska 59
- No. 2 Utah 69, No. 7 UC Davis 59
- No. 3 Stanford 86, No. 6 BYU 83
- No. 5 Washington 77, No. 4 Boise State 74
Round 2
- March 17: No. 4 Penn State 73, No. 1 Notre Dame 63
- March 18: No. 4 Mississippi State 78, No. 1 Baylor 77
- March 18: No. 2 Marquette 101, No. 3 Oregon 92
- March 18: No. 2 Louisville 84, No. 3 Middle Tennessee 68
- March 19: No. 2 Oklahoma State 71, No. 3 Stanford 65
- March 19: No. 2 Utah 95, No. 3 LSU 71
- March 19: No. 1 St. Mary’s 85, No. 5 Washington 81
- March 19: No. 1 USC 75, No. 4 Western Kentucky 79
Quarterfinals, March 20-21
March 20
No. 4 Penn State 85, No. 2 Marquette 80
No. 4 Mississippi State 79, No. 2 Louisville 56
March 21
No. 4 Western Kentucky 92, No. 2 Oklahoma State 84
No. 2 Utah 67, No. 1 St. Mary’s 58
Semifinals, March 27
No. 2 Utah 69, No. 4 Western Kentucky 64
No. 4 Penn State 75,No. 4 Mississippi State 60
Championship, March 29
No. 2 Utah vs. No. 4 Penn State, 7 p.m., ESPN2
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